Bike magazine recently tested the V-Strom against three key competitors. The testers were impressed with the performance, handling and usability of the model.
“The [DL650 V-Strom] uses its huge power advantage over the other bikes to blast its way ahead and off into the distance, pulling out yards on the exit of every corner with the kind of rolling, surging eagerness that you usually associate with much bigger engines.”

I had ridden the 1000cc version V-Strom before, and while its utility could not be denied, I found it to be rather weighty and ungainly. Based on my experience with the 1000, I was skeptical, but accepted the offer. Heck, it was something I hadn't ridden before, so maybe I'd learn something. The 650 V-Strom proved to be a revelation.

The smell of pine and mud hangs in the warm late summer evening air, south of Manning Park on Highway 3. It's a perfect motorcycling moment…that falters the moment you realize the smell of mud is the result of bridge construction, that the road has veered suddenly, and that the temporary Bailey bridge's surface is coated with slick muck. The moment looks around a little stunned and then regains itself with the realization I'm on Suzuki's Adventure-Tourer-Lite, the V-Strom DL 650.